AnswerMatching: A Small Group Competitive Digital Game for Practicing Arithmetic with Asymmetrical Competition Strategy

• Main Authors: Mong-Chen Chiang, 江孟真
• Other Authors: Tak-Wai Chan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/af3j6x

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 資訊工程研究所 === 94 === The objective of the research is to design and implement a small group competitive game for practicing arithmetic with Asymmetrical Competition strategy. Many researches have pointed out that computer games can increase children’s learning outcome and interests. However, even though competitive games can increase the level of motivation, but at the same time it adversely affects the intrinsic motivation of students and hurts the confidence of learners with lower skill levels. Moreover, in a single classroom, the ability level of the students varies. The key factor is providing students with different skill levels the right amount of competition. The author designed a game (AnswerMatching) under the 1:1 Digital Computing Environment which aims at supporting elementary school students in developing their mathematics skills. The game utilizes the Asymmetrical Competition strategy due to provide the suitable amount of competition to students in order to maintain their learning motivation. The game also utilizes the Information Hiding strategy due to protect the confidence of students so that their self-confidence will not be hurt in an environment where there are students with various skill levels. The purpose of Information Hiding strategy is to hide those information which might have negative effects on the students confidence and feelings. In order to design the game rules for AnswerMatching, the author first uses paper and pencil to design the game activity in order to probe into the feasibility and interest of the game before actually implementing it. The implementation of the game also uses Information Hiding strategy to design the varying competition level. An evaluation study was conducted in an elementary school in Taoyuan where 18 grade 4 students participated. The goals of the evaluation were to evaluate the system usability and activity design and explore the effects of AnswerMatching on the students’ affective states. It was found that the students’ confidence was not affected by the negative influences of competitive game. The results also found that there was an increase in the level of motivation, interest, focus and concentration in students while playing the game. The results also suggest that AnswerMatching provided a motivating learning environment and students enjoyed practicing mathematics using the game.